Andy’s Blog

This is it!  I can’t believe the season is almost over!  It seemed like yesterday that we were looking dumb-struck as BJ asked us to raise our hands at the team selections and all the near fights at the house and the drama along the way.  It’s finally come to this, the Finale event on June 23rd and the two deserving finalists are Nathan Diaz and Manvel Gamburyan.
Both of them overcame a lot, Manny with his disastisfaction with the house early on in the season and also being one of the physically smaller guys on the show and Nate, who also had some serious desires to go home and had to fight some tough guys along the way, have both made it to the end.  I think they impressed all of us fighters with their talent and tenacity and we’re just as excited as the fans to see how their match unfolds.
There were a lot of highs and lows on the season; some of which you saw played out on TV and others that never got on air.  The best part was that we all had to endure a lot to make it through the whole season and without the help of each other, there is no way it could have been possible.  For me, it was easily one of the most difficult times of my life while on the show, but now while looking back, it was also easily one of the best times of my life.  Joe Lauzon coming from nowhere to help me cut weight for my fight.  Lobstah telling me stories about his wife back home and how much he missed her, as we all did our families.  Brian Geragthy and Manny playing endless hands of Texas Hold Em’ with me and squeezing in a few laughs here and there whenever we could.  Gray and Matt becoming the best of friends in the house and them always finding a way to make Team Penn laugh with the Ben-Gay attacks at the house.  Corey Hill for staying up one night with me and while he was washing dishes we spent and hour talking about life and family.  I knew then that the man liked to bark, but he liked to talk about his wife and children even more and that made me respect him beyond the Octagon.
I have great memories of all the guys in the house, even the cameramen, the producers, etc.  They told us before we went on the show that when the experience was finished, we would all be better people AND fighters, and while that seemed far-fetched at the time I think they were right, we learned a lot about ourselves and each other, who depending on the day were either your best-friend or next opponent, which was the craziest emotion I’ve ever felt, but definitely did learn from it.
Well, it’s down to this.  June 23rd a lot of our careers will take shape and we’ll find out what destiny has in store for us.  Thanks for watching and supporting the Ultimate Fighter Season 5 and look forward to some great fights this weekend!

-Andy

Having quality training partners is without a doubt one of the most crucial aspects to getting ready for competition. While there are
always guys around the gym to train with, the best advice I ever got from BJJ phenom Baret Yoshida was that you need three types of
training partners to improve your game and excel. 1) is the beast, the guy that is better than you and it’s a long-shot to catch him with
anything, but when you train with him, you are feeling the moves and the pressure. The second type you need is the guy you can beat most
of the time, the lay-up shot, if you will. This is important so you practice and refine your moves. The third person you need is the most
crucial, the partner who is just as good as you and it is back-and-forth everytime you train. This is the person who will push you the most and help you progress.

I like training with a variety of people and gyms and am always seeking out those three types. Getting ready for this fight, I’ve
gotten my fair share of ass-kickings, but that’s part of the learning process and good for mental toughness as well; in every match,
something weird will happen and that champs are the ones who can deal with the adversity on the fly.

-Andy

With two weeks out from the fight, everything is being scrutinized in practice now and trying to fine tune everything. My opponent is a
formidable one and you can’t take anybody or anything for granted in this business. As we’ve seen with several of the recent UFC events,
all we can be certain of is that nothing is for certain in a fight.

That being said, all fighters that are in the UFC have the hope and dream of being the best and having that shiny belt around their waist.
I think for a lot of the guys, the image of Royce Gracie dominating the early UFCs was what inspired us to get involved with the sport,
but seeing the scientific and dedicated training regimens of guys like Randy Couture, Matt Hughes, etc. is what pushes us now. You HAVE to
train hard and you have to train right in order to do your best and knowing your opponent is training his best to beat you, that’s what
allows you to wake up everyday and get back to work.

-Andy

Drew Fickett, 7x UFC veteran and recent winner against Kieta Nakamura
at the previous UFC Fight Night, is in town to help finish up my
preparations. Having a guy with so much skill and experience has been
a huge boost. We have worked with each other quite a bit in the past
and now that my fight is coming up, it’s awesome to have him in my
corner.

My usual training partners have been great also, specifically Mac
Danzig, Kengo Ura, Jeff Paris to name a few. I take no shortcuts in
training so without guys that can keep going and pushing you, it’s
almost impossible to become the best you can be.

I’m very excited and anxious about the opportunity that is ahead of
me. Nobody can tell the future, but I know I’m going in there and
will leave it all in the Octagon and hopefully the fight is something
that will please the fans, the UFC and myself! This will be one of my
most difficult challenges ever, but I do look forward to it.

I’ll try to get some photos up too!

-Andy

Enson Inoue came into town and while he is primarily here for filming
of a movie titled, “Red Belt”, we also had the chance to go watch the
K-1 Dynamite show that was held at the historic Los Angeles Memorial
Colisieum, home to none other than the best college football program
in the country, the USC Trojans!

The show was pretty entertaining and while there were some mismatches,
we all had a good time. I actually went to junior high and high
school with Johnnie Morton’s younger brother, Chad, so I was rooting
for Johnnie and even though he got caught with a punch, he went out
there and fought hard. I saw the whole family ringside before the
fight and I could tell they were nervous and it’s never good to see
anyone carried out on a stretcher, but from what I understand, Johnnie
is fine, which is great news.

Having Enson around has been terrific; he’s been through so many tough
battles in his career and he’s the one that reminds me that you have
to be willing to give it all you got in training and in the fight.

-Andy